Monday, October 29, 2012

The cover and Prunty's hilarious description sold me on the book right away. Then I read it and that was good too. I make smart decisions.

Anwyay, the title story is a wonderful bit of macabre about a contest to see who can injure the most pedestrians. The contest comes complete with an oddball set of rules and a desperate, deranged cast of characters. This story is probably the closest to a standard narrative in the whole book, but it's still wild, weird, and fatalistic.

"The Laughing Crusade" might be my favorite. After finishing his treatise on the New Anarchist Revolution, a man retreats to his back porch for a beer and a cigarette. He soon stumbles upon the fact that the entire neighborhood is filled with people maniacally laughing and that they're going to crush all the non-laughers. The ending is truly disturbing--images I won't soon forget.

"Princess Electricity" is a surreal journey into a world where one buys loaves of bread with 10 ideas or gets a job by having the name Terry. And some random girl controls all of the electricity.

Every story in here is the real deal--unpredictable, imaginative, often funny. I like the variety in this collection--some of the stories lean toward horror, others toward fantasy, others are straight bizarro. Prunty's an author I can't get enough of.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

I like writers who know their strengths and play to them. Cindy Rosmus is one of those writers.

Her short story collection, Death Takes a Snow Day, is all about that wonderfully fucked up state, New Jersey. Jersey hit men, Jersey bars, Jersey relationships. The setting becomes a full-fledged character, present on every page.

Rosmus maintains a focus on dysfunctional relationships between men and women throughout. Sometimes a wife is hiring out the murder of her husband. Sometimes a woman is in love with a man she knows is evil. Every scenario is doomed from the start. If noir characters fall from the curb to the gutter, then Rosmus is a noir writer.

Yet, unlike many noir writers, Rosmus crafts sympathetic narrators--people who are trying to do their best. But in Jersey, your best isn't enough.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

"I go to a movie and notice that I'm starring in it. I don't remember shooting the movie, let alone auditioning for the part. I am not an actor." -- D. Harlan Wilson, from "The Movie That Wasn't There"

They Had Goat Headsis a masterpiece of the surreal. It's the kind of short fiction collection that hangs together perfectly. Each story is brilliant on its own, but together they resonate beautifully. Wilson blends micro, flash, and short stories to great effect.

The result is chaos--a world where you no idea which way is up or down. You expect to be assaulted by elbows, giraffes, and monster trucks. At the same time. Or at separate times.

Summarizing the plots of these stories is pointless. It's safe to say that you'll go for a strangely pleasing ride in each.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Octopope!is a great example of a book that sets rules and sticks to them.

It is a also a great example of a book about octopi selecting a new pope.

Yep, that's what it's about. They drink, they swear, they randomly pick a new pope by stuffing a bunch of names into a hat. They pick who they think is a dud and then it turns out he is awesome... and then it turns out he is a dud.

John Smallberries tells us none of the "why" and sticks to the confines of this beautifully simple and nutty premise.

This is a short, fast, and hilarious read.

As soon as I saw the name, I said "Hell yes!" I said the same thing after reading it.